


Like little maps to the stars

by theseatheseatheopensea



Category: Sapphire and Steel
Genre: Elemental Magic, Elemental Weirdness, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Illusions, Post-Canon, Time Loop, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 16:22:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17770175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theseatheseatheopensea/pseuds/theseatheseatheopensea
Summary: They will start again, they will start over. They always do. They will become that small, bright light, and they will find their way again. Out here, they will become the world. They will be everything, the three of them. Somehow, they will be.After assignment 6, three Elements find themselves again. And again. And perhaps, again.





	Like little maps to the stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thisbluespirit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisbluespirit/gifts).



> A treat for thisbluespirit, inspired by [this amazing prompt](https://thisbluespirit.dreamwidth.org/866248.html). Elemental weirdness is one of my favourite things ever, so it was an absolute delight to find this prompt and write this story!

So here we go back again  
Slow climb but quick to descend  
Arms out, arms out  
Turn into the spin  
It's lovely and brief  
With just gravity and me

And if we choose to fall  
Who's to say it isn't flight?

\- Dessa: [Into the spin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUFLJz0H0zo).

*

If they are here, here at the edge of the world, why are they still using these words?

So limited.

So human.

Steel frowns, yes, even after all this time. He still wears the shape of a man who thinks that he knows everything. So headstrong, so proud.

Oh, but he thinks that he _knows_.

One day, he might turn towards them and say _I am ready. I am leaving. I am going to find the stars._

( _Leaving,_ he says. Whatever that means.)

But he does. He walks away. He goes out there and he reads and he learns and he sees everything. And it is all so wide and big and dark. The sky is there, right there. He loses himself in it. He soars and he flies. He fights. And he thinks that he has found _it_. 

He thinks that he has found the stars.

Yes, he thinks that he has found something. He will never give up. But he is tired, so tired. And his heart still hurts. Whatever that means.

He walks, lost in the dark. He wants it to stop. And it does. And maybe, it never began. 

And he is back here. Again. Always, always back here.

Some days are like a shadow, like a lost memory. It has been years and years and years, and they are still here, but they are _lost_. And they don't have much. The words and the endless seconds. The night and the sky. And the sadness. They probably aren't supposed to know what it means or how it feels. But they do. It has seeped through somehow, it has become a part of them.

The sky is endless, and they are supposed to know where it ends. They are supposed to know where to go, but they don't. Not anymore. They don't belong. They are caught between two worlds. ( _Well, possibly more,_ Silver adds, because _why not_?)

They are invisible. No one sees them. But they are still here, sad and restless and nowhere, nowhere at all. How did it all become so real? Steel sees it, a second before it fades, he sees it in Sapphire's sad eyes, in Silver's defiant sleight of hand. They are odd and out of place, trapped somewhere that time forgot, deliberately.

And maybe it's not that bad. Maybe they have been here all along. Maybe they have always been there.

Maybe they simply need to let go.

Suddenly, it seems so easy, and maybe it is. This freedom, this offering of flight. This leap of faith. It all makes sense now. They are here, and it is meant to be. They are meant to be _here_. Here, close, so close. Again, once again.

Always.

The sky bursts wide open. It has a sort of heartbeat, and the world vibrates along with it. And the world lights up, flame by flame by flame. And they fall, sharp and bright and fast, like stars, like stars that are proud like fire, like stars that never go out. They fall. And they see it, the edge of the world, like a step forward, like a new beginning. The stars bring the message, and they will carry these words, they will tell these stories.

They will remember.

And Silver snaps his fingers, almost out of habit. Yes, almost _deliberately._ And they find it. At last, they find it all, among the stars.

Of course. Of _course_. 

They still stand at the edge of time. It's dark here. It's too quiet. They have no compass anymore, but that's alright. They won't fall. Not anymore. They _know._ And Sapphire's eyes glow, and the silence speaks for them. Out here, beneath this wide open sky, there is so much meaning in all the words they don't say. These words are like feathers, like the small trinkets Silver shapes to amuse himself. They are kept hidden, safe like treasures. Like shared secrets, like tender messages. Like little maps to the stars.

They will start again, they will start over. They always do. They will become that small, bright light, and they will find their way again. Out here, they will become the world. They will be everything, the three of them. Somehow, they will _be_. But for now, they can rest easy. They can sleep, in this silence. Steel doesn't know everything, but he knows this. Destiny isn't written, destiny is here, destiny is this. Yes, whatever _this_ means.


End file.
